Saturday, April 14, 2012

14 April 2007 - It Was A Good Run While It Lasted

On 14 April 2007, a 1-1 draw with Peterborough secured Torquay's relegation, ending a 79-year stay in the Football League.

Formed in 1899, Torquay United joined the league for the 1927-28 season, playing in the Third Division. They moved between the third and fourth tiers for the remainder of their stay in the league, with their best season ending with a second-place Third Division finish in 1957. They also narrowly missed tournament silverware, finishing as Football League Trophy runners-up in 1989.

By the 2006-07 season, Torquay were back in the fourth tier League Two and undergoing upheaval in the backroom as the club went through a succession of chairmen and managers. Their performance on the pitch suffered; at one point in the middle of the season, they went 19 matches without a win (and 14 of those were losses).

By the time they hosted Peterborough in April, Torquay had been at the bottom of the table for three and a half months. Their relegation looked unavoidable, but they still had a slight mathematical hope. That hope, however, required a win.

Torquay's Kevin Hill fanned the flames of that hope when his diving header put them up 1-0 in the 45th minute, but the referee awarded a 71st-minute penalty to Peterborough, which Craig Mackail-Smith buried to end the day as a 1-1 draw.

The Gulls spent two seasons in the Football Conference before returning to the league in 2009. They remain in League 2 at the moment, but are currently challenging for automatic promotion, sitting in second place.